According to an article from Time written by Lisa Abend, the new smoking restrictions imperiled some businesses in certain Spanish provinces. A restaurant owner even uses the words “a question of survival” to respond to the outlaw from a personal standpoint (Abend). At first, my impression of this topic led me to believe that maybe the hospitality industry was being self-interested for allowing the tobacco companies to rule their businesses and for not considering the health implications that come with that condition. However, after reading “Thank You for Smoking, Spanish Bars Flout the Ban”, I realized that assuming that every single privately owned business in Spain is selfish, is a selfish thought in itself. The value of what Abend has provided in this article is tremendous not only because it allows me to understand the owners’ perspectives, but also because it teaches me to consider alternatives to the law that I would not have thought of on my own. What sparked my interest of this topic in the first place is my hate for tobacco smoke in public sit-down places. However, I must think about the implications of the 2006-2011 law if I want to continue to enjoy the rich gastronomic experiences that Spain offers.
In my opinion, one cannot make progress in research without being knowledgeable about the background of their topic, which is why one of the most important factors in creating a worthy paper and really understanding what a big influence smoking has not only on businesses, but also on the Spanish people, is knowing how the norming of smoking began. Sheila M. Clabby’s article “Till Death Do They Part: Spain’s Love Affair with the Cigarette” does exactly this. Clabby provides solid background information about how smoking became prominent in Spain after Francisco Franco’s dictatorship, and she claims that “the cigarette became for many a symbol of liberation and sophistication”, especially for women (Clabby). Personally, it is easy for me to make connections between Clabby’s argument and my direct family members because it is absolutely true that the social changes that came along with the fall of a dictatorial Spain led to a dependency on cigarette smoking; using my grandparents as evidence. Clabby claims that the rising success of cigarette companies represented a “newly liberated and wealthier” Spain, which is something I had never thought about. The more thought I put into it, however, the more I realized how much sense it made for the Spanish people to “rebel” after the harsh Franco years, and now with the outlaw put into play, most people are doing the exact same thing.
In relation to the Spanish governments’ motives behind wanting to impose a ban of such a large scale, Esteve Fernandez’s article “Spain: Going Smoke Free” highlights the true objectives of the legislature, a piece of information that no other article pays much attention to. Many of the research articles that I have mentioned and will mention focus on the implementation of the law and how it was absorbed by the Spanish community. This article in particular, however, states a crucial fact, and that is that the main objective of the smoke-free law is “to protect non-smokers from secondhand smoke”, along with secondary objectives such as preventing initiation among young people and promoting a smoking cessation (Fernandez). Knowing the motive behind the “problematic” law is important if I want to understand both sides of the story and remain open-minded.
Clearly, my thinking evolved as I did more research. On one hand, considering that my interest in learning more about the effects of a piece of legislature started because of a number of terrible experiences I had in restaurants in Spain over this past summer, one would be right to think that I am opposed to the legalization of smoking in public places. On the other hand, the reasons why I am opposed to it have changed as I developed my research. At first, I thought that when certain public spots permit smoking outdoors but in an enclosed area, that they are doing it carelessly, not thinking about their non-smoker customers who would like to enjoy dining on the terrace as well. Thanks to an article titled “Legislating Tolerance: Spain’s National Public Smoking Law”, my misconception was corrected by the fact that tobacco companies are actually the ones promoting a separate (sometimes enclosed) section for smokers in the pursuit of finding a balance between the legislation and the hospitality sector, calling it an “unenforceable voluntary agreement” in which “everybody wins” (Muggli). Once I learned this, the next step was to find out whether there truly was an economic impact on the businesses; one significant enough to make businesses desperate, as mentioned previously in my example of the Time article.
Given that the question above is my research question, it was satisfying to know I finally had enough background information to continue my investigation. The focus now lied on whether or not the smoking outlaw between the years 2006 and 2011 gave the hospitality industry a reason to fear for their withstanding, and according to an article by author Richard Connor, it partly did and it partly didn’t. This article is especially valuable because it provides specific claims, such as one from the Spanish Hotel and Catering Association that says “sales could drop by as much as 10% in bars” after the implementation of the law (Connor). Connor also claims that restaurants could actually benefit from the law, attracting more families and non-smokers, of which there is a higher percentage (Connor). The specific perspectives in Connor’s “Spain Introduces Tough New Anti-Smoking Laws” matches my desired approach to the topic; one that pays attention to detail and one that does not just rely on what is seen on the surface.
Interestingly, a study conducted by a number of PhD authors from a Spanish Institute in the Tobacco Control Unit came up with different results when researching whether or not there was a negative economic impact on the hospitality sector between the years 2006-2011. Anna García-Altés et al discovered that the outlaw actually had no significant effect on the number of bars and restaurants in Spain during that time, a result that goes against the claim made in my previously mentioned article by Richard Connor. Finding this study made it very difficult for me to decide whether or not I believed there was a true impact on the Spanish businesses I care so much about. At this point in my research, I could have either given up and decided that I had the answer I was looking for, or I could continue to look for more information that would actually help me think of alternative ways to make sure neither the government nor the businesses lost in this game of power and interest. I decided to go with the second option.
An article titled “Patterns of Adherence to and Compliance with the Portuguese Smoke-Free Law in the Leisure-Hospitality Sector” brought forward to my research the theme of compliance. Even though it uses the words “Portuguese Smoke-Free Law” and not “Spanish Smoke-Free Law”, authors Maria Fatima Reis et al do a great job at comparatively studying the Spanish ban and how the Spanish community slowly but surely showed an increase in compliance with the law and a decrease in secondhand smoke exposure in the hospitality world. Finding this study made me happy because I felt I was finally at peace with both sides of the issue. It seemed as if the Spanish people were more open to the idea of the ban, including workers and business owners. This is also shown in a study done by Jose M. Martínez-Sánchez et al., who asked Barcelona residents whether electronic cigarettes would be more acceptable indoors, and the results showed a higher percentage of disapproval than approval.
To conclude, my thought process began in a very judgmental state in which I believed that the law that caused smokers and business owners to become infuriated all around Spain, was a law that lacked enforcement and did absolutely nothing positive for the non-smoker population. This was very clear to me because I was still sitting in clouds of smoke every summer even though it was illegal. After putting time into research, however, factors such as the economic crisis suddenly played a huge role in an outlaw that I thought was taken as a joke. Little did I know that the Spanish government takes the legislation very seriously, enforcing large fines on the hospitality sector should they disobey the law, and that the hospitality representatives take it equally as seriously, if not more. My approach was no longer centered around the law, but rather on the reasons why businesses were affected by it, and if so, how they reacted to it. Still, one thing I do know for sure is that Spain’s social scene changed after the year 2011, whether that be for the better or for the worse depends on who you ask.
Works Cited
Clabby, Sheila. "Till Death Do They Part: Spain's Love Affair with the Cigarette." (2005).
Connor, Richard. "Spain Introduces Tough New Anti-Smoking Laws | Europe | DW.COM | 02.01.2011." DW. N.p., 2011. Web.
Fernández, Esteve. "Spain: Going Smoke Free." Tobacco control 15.2 (2006): 79-80.
García-Altés, Anna, et al. "Economic Impact of Smoke-Free Legislation: Did the Spanish Tobacco Control Law Affect the Economic Activity of Bars and Restaurants?" Nicotine & Tobacco Research 17.11 (2015): 1397-1400.
Abend, Lisa. "Thank You for Smoking: Spanish Bars Flout the Ban." Time. Time Inc., 11 Jan. 2011.
Martínez-Sánchez, Jose M., et al. "Attitudes towards electronic cigarettes regulation in indoor workplaces and selected public and private places: a population-based cross-sectional study." PloS one 9.12 (2014): e114256.
Muggli, Monique E., et al. "Legislating tolerance: Spain's national public smoking law." Tobacco control 19.1 (2010): 24-30.
Reis, Maria Fátima, et al. "Patterns of Adherence to and Compliance with the Portuguese Smoke-Free Law in the Leisure-Hospitality Sector." PloS one 9.7 (2014): e102421.